I'm a privacy pragmatist, writing about the intersection of law, technology, social media and our personal information. If you have story ideas or tips, e-mail me at khill@forbes.com. PGP key here.
These days, I'm a senior online editor at Forbes. I was previously an editor at Above the Law, a legal blog, relying on the legal knowledge gained from two years working for corporate law firm Covington & Burling -- a Cliff's Notes version of law school.
In the past, I've been found slaving away as an intern in midtown Manhattan at The Week Magazine, in Hong Kong at the International Herald Tribune, and in D.C. at the Washington Examiner. I also spent a few years traveling the world managing educational programs for international journalists for the National Press Foundation.
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FTC Tells Snapchat To Stop Lying About Photos Disappearing

Last year, when a forensics firm proved that Snapchats don’t actually disappear, I speculated that the Federal Trade Commission — which is the federal agency responsible for investigating companies for deceptive or misleading practices — would likely be taking a close look at the popular “ephemeral” messaging app and its claims to users about photos going poof after they’re viewed. Well, the FTC did and it wasn’t happy about what it found. On Thursday, the FTC announced that the company made all kinds of false privacy and security claims, including the premise of the app: that it sends photos that self-destruct. The fact that photos do not always self-destruct is something unfortunate teenage girls have also discovered.

“Despite a security researcher warning the company… Snapchat continued to misrepresent that the sender controls how long a recipient can view a snap,” says the FTC in a notice that it is settling a complaint it brought against the company that reportedly turned down $3 billion from Facebook. As part of the settlement, Snapchat agrees to “no longer misrepresent the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of users’ information,” says the FTC. And like other tech companies that have drawn the ire of the agency, such as Facebook and GoogleGoogle, Snapchat now has to put in place a “comprehensive privacy program that will be monitored by an independent privacy professional for the next 20 years.” Snapchat published a blog post about the settlement which translates, to, “Dude, we were just some college kids making a fun app and we may have made a mistake with that whole ‘disappears forever’ thing.”

How Snapchat used to describe their app

The description of their app in the iTunes store is now seriously toned down: “Snap a photo or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend. They’ll view it, laugh, and then the Snap disappears from the screen – unless they take a screenshot!” [Bold is mine]

Meanwhile, Snapchat is getting even less ephemeral. In its last update, it gave users a “save” button — though only for text messages and comments.

The FTC brings up a whole litany of ways Snapchat screwed up beyond just not actually being able to delete photos “ forever” after 1 to 10 seconds. For example, there was no verification process for phone numbers when signing up, so someone could have registered using your phone number and started getting Snaps meant for you. “Numerous consumers complained that they had sent snaps to someone under the false impression that they were communicating with a friend,” reports the FTC.

The company also had that big data breach that exposed information for millions of accounts and ”collected iOS users’ contacts information from their address books without notice or consent.”

Amazingly, they can do all that and not be fined given the state of privacy law in the U.S. Though under this settlement, they will be slapped with a fine if they make future privacy and security mistakes. Meanwhile, I do suspect that class action lawyers are eyeing the company closely and looking for teen girls interested in suing the company over their “ephemeral” racy snaps being part of someone’s permanent collection.

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I’m just curious – based on the Snapchat user demographic – if this revelation actually exposes Snapchat to child pornography action. The statutes related to the “storing” of images involving minors are pretty strict – and let’s face it, Snapchat users aren’t using an “ephemeral messaging” platform because it encourages them to practice good judgement. If nothing else, it’s a compelling legal angle.